


Corrupted [Batim]

by Im_the_Narrator



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Body Horror, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ink Henry Stein, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_the_Narrator/pseuds/Im_the_Narrator
Summary: Starting loop 414 and things are incredibly different. Henry runs through with some old friends, but the price he pays for it is much too high.
Relationships: Allison Angel/Tom, Henry Stein/Linda Stein, Sammy Lawrence/Norman Polk
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Corrupted [Batim]

Floor creaked beneath former animators feet as he ran for the throne room. _'I feel like I'm getting slower every time I do this'_ Henry thought to himself. He took a shaky breath, coughing a bit, he could feel the foul black liquid clogging his lungs. Placing the final reel in the proper spot he sighed, the reel said the end but there's no end in a circle. Growling echoing though the walls as the beast was on hot on his heels.

The whole studio could hear the ink demons dying growls. Choosing not to watch this time Henry focused dead ahead towards the throne. He's seen it die many times. Forever stuck in a loop of death and dispare. The former animator would die a couple times, then Sammy, Norman, Buddy, Susie, and Sammy again would die. Then all his work to kill "bendy" for the freedom he'd never get. All that hard work proved frivolous.

This was how the story ended, only to bring him back to the beginning again, and again, and again. Stuck in a loop and nothing ever changes. Little things changed but that wasn't enough, the replica studio is and always will be a hell hole. No matter what he'd say they'd never remember, sometimes seeming to know bits and pieces but nothing more. Falling though floors, seeing the suffering souls, dying. It never ended. Never ended.

Everything went B L A C K

_______

Joeys non sense rambling was soon over. Henry was not in the mood to listen to his old friend talk out of his ass for ten minutes.

Joey gestured towards the door like he did every time. Though he looked like he was smiling wider before. Henry didn't want this to be like last time, save itleast someone, just one poor soul. The door shut behind him when he heard "what are you willing to give up for them?" from the director.

"Everything..."

Henry pulled the seeing tool out to see where he left off. He thought it was odd that it would appear and disappear when reaching his hand towards his pocket. 'Cartoon logic' he thought to himself rolling his eyes. 413 tally's on the wall, he sighed. It wasn't an accurate number,as he didn't always remember being stuck in the loop, so he didn't always mark the wall. Dipping hus finger in the ink on the floor next to where 'dreams come true' was written on the wall. The older fellow walked back to the hall near the never opening door, to add another tally to the wall making it 414. He could at least try to keep track, though this place messed with his head. The ink would turn a gold(ish) color before fading from what the bare eye could see. He didn't question it, questions are always left unanswered, so why ask them?

"I don't want to do this again" Henry mumbled as he began moving towards the objects he knew he had to collect. He trembled slightly as he walked the toonish halls. 'I had much better run through last time, got the objects quickly, and found every spot to stall the story'. The yellow ink stained wooden boards creaked slightly under his feet with every step he took. He knew it was wrong, that he should stop, but he couldn't. Joey wouldn't let him. Subconsciously Henry would move to start the machine, he just couldn't stop himself. Joey would only let him stall for so long, so he might as well get to work.

The older mans stomach churned looking at the dead Boris clone strapped to the table. He carefully pulled the wrench out of it's open chest cavity, in the mind set he was about to hurt the poor creature. The mans left eye twitched slightly and he rubbed his hand up against his face before quickly pulling it back with black finger tips. _'Great still have ink on me from the last run though'_. Whispers similer to those of the puddles filled the room, though they seemed to follow him even after he left. It only caused him endless frustreastened, he could barely keep his mind on his thoughts so the last thing he needed was to hear others.

The creators crumbling sanity was the least of his worries right now. He walked to the ink machine room remembering the dry cells needed to the lift the hellish machine. "Oof" he tripped over a pipe with the words "watch your step" ironically written. "Pfft, how d-" his words cut off as he got in a coughing fit. Clearing his throat "...did I miss that" he was satisfied now that he finished his sentence. Tucking the wrench under his arm he went to put the dry cells in. Once he finished raising the machine he grabbed the cog out of a chest and walked back to the old "break" room.

Henry put the objects on the "little pedestals" as Wally called them. That strong urge to break something came back, he balled his fist so tight that his finger nails dug into the palm of his hand. He kicked down the bendy cut out as he entered the hallway again. How did those stupid cardboard demons move in first place?

Henry ran his fingers though his hair. The ruffled mess was a caramel brown littered with grays with streaks of black from all the ink, that's basically everywhere. No, is everywhere. "Its behind the walls, it's on the floor, it's in the ceiling, it's everywhere..." Henry continued to talk to himself as he walked to get the other items. His sanity slowly slipping away from him. "Everywhere...."

'I'm getting to old for this' he thought quietly, "I better get paid for this bull shit!" He shouted to the empty halls. 'Breathe, gotta stay calm and keep a level head'. Could he eventually be crazier than Sammy, if that's even possible. No matter what he did differently nothing ever changed, even if he changed small things from picking a different path all the way to letting the ink creatures kill him on repeat, did nothing. Everything led to the same ending. Beginning the story only undoes it. He shivered thinking of all the time he's been killed, hit with axes, gotten all the bones in hi body crushed, drowned in ink, drowned in his own blood, had searchers and other creatures tear him apart, so many other ways.

Henry flipped the switch and prepared for bendys little jump scare.'what if it took my soul' he thought about it for moment, the loop only resets reset he'd finish, or bring him back if he died. Never actually died like that before, would the loop reset or... would he just become another lost soul. Whether lost to the well of voices that is the puddles, or to come back of some sort of monster, he wanted neither. He had grown quite attached to his body, and was not willing to give it up.

Every stain from the last chapter stayed with the poor man, if he became another one of the searchers, would he stay like that? Every injury that didn't kill or immobilized him stayed with him, if he had died and came back as some sort of ink creature would it be the same? Would he still have to do the loop if he was something like a Boris clone or searcher. The thought scared him, though he kinda wondered what it was like to be an ink creature. God, had he lost it? Why would he wonder that? Sammy and Susie had completely lost it, Norman seemed more machine than man at this point, poor buddy constantly getting ripped apart, the butcher gang clones looked to be in constant pain, but Allison and Tom didn't seem to fair to bad, they were in hell, but it least they were in hell together.

You flipped the switch and headed towards the ink machine. The door way to the monsteruos machine looked just as it is every time, mysteriously boarded up. As much as you wanted to just lie down and die you had to remember to keep fighting. 'I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing it for all the forsaken souls trapped in this inky abyss of pain and misery'.

~~~

The malformed bendy smiled wickedly at his frightened creator. Yes he hated the man, but there was something curious about him, and his nonsense "hope". How he still things will change for better? Well Bendy couldn't see the same optmisiam. Change would be coming, it has been coming since he stepped foot in this place, just not the change he'd enjoy. 

The ink demon stared into the animators eyes, into his soul. Henry knew the demon could snap him in half if it wanted to, or command the ink to swallow him whole. The demon let the old man go, he preferred to slowly stalk his prey. Good scare never hurt anyone though, the demon thought to itself as he reached out to grab the retired animator. Bendy's left clawed five fingered left hand scratched against the old mans side, as he was released from against the boards. Even though the loop basically had bendy repeating his actions, little Henry was still terrified of him. Many times Henry has let the creatures here kill him, but never on purpose would he let the demon kill him. He feared the demon would steal his soul and make the changing slow and painful. Henry took off but the man was only getting slower, the demon could very easily catch up at this rate, but he wanted to play with his food a little more. 

The traitor didn't stand a chance. This time it's gonna be different. 

~~~

Henry moved swiftly. The front door in sight, cracked open slightly the teasing sunlight peeking through. Oh what he'd give to see the light of day again.

You hissed in pain you fell. You swear there wasn't pipes here before. You slammed yourself against boards and pipes. For all the ways Joey could've changed the script.

A loud thud could be heard as you hit the ground, pain surging though your body. You legs seemed to be fine, as they were the only part of you that didn't surge with pain. You looked to the wall feeling uneasy at the words etched on wall. The wall used to read 'the creator lied to us', that's what it always read until now. The wall now read 'you lied to us', the words "the" and "creator" were scratched out with inky claw marks. Who ever changed the writing must've known you were there.

A shiver went down your spine making you shudder, something was off. What was off? You didn't know, something just felt... wrong. You turned and grabbed the ax and clumsily swinging it in front of you. Just hold the axe close, it'll keep you safe.

The axe was heavy in his ink stained hands as he walked onwards breaking all the boards that dared to block his path. He sighed, how he longed for something new. Repeating actions and expecting a different resultinsanity, but maybe he really lost it. This was your life now. You had a family, a wife with a kid on the way, but they were gone... well they weren't gone, you were. You said you'd be back in time for dinner, you lied and you'll probably never get to see her again. In one solid swing downward the broke in twine.

Ponder these thoughts as he kept walked and broke wood planks that blocked his path. Henry knew in his heart he could never save Boris, he'd never be able to save anyone, let alone himself. Nothing more than a puppet, just Joey's play thing.

The pentagram room was waiting with open arms, for him. "Sorry don't think I'll be back in time dinner honey" Henry muttered sadly. He held his shaky breaths back, thinking about his wife made him sad, 'she probably thinks I'm dead...'. Calm down, just keep moving.This part always scared him. Never know what he'll wake up to. Yes, stuck in a time loop thing made everything relativity the same, but little things kept changing. The ink was doing something to him, even if he was too scared to admit it. Room started to shake the moment he stepped in, he stumbled like always and stepped onto the pentagram.

A chill went though the mans spine making him shake. A stinging feeling ran up his legs, arms, and chest. Pounding though his head. He could feel his body jerk slightly. Couldn't help but gasp, felt like all the oxygen was pulled from his lungs. 

The smell of ink was getting stronger, and that was wrong. 'Something bad is gonna happen'.The room was also felt very...hot. The former animator felt like he was on fire. Strange since he was always cold, the ink was cold, the building was cold, so he was cold aswell. But right know felt like temperature was rising.

The creator had three images flash in his mind, Joey's wheelchair from a ground perspective, the ink machine, and the ink demon. Felt like an invisible force was choking him. After every image the room grew darker and darker. The old man soon collapsed to the floor being knocked out cold. Little did he know he was being watched by a very familiar face, who waited for him to awake. The same one who has been slowly stalking him.

The ink demon looked down at the unconscious man sprawled out on a pentagram. The only sound was of ink dripping ceiling to the crooked floorboards. The demon thought quietly to himself feeling pleased.

'Hmm, he'll make a wonderful addition, just a little longer'

**Author's Note:**

> It might be a bit before the next chapter, but it'll come! constructive criticism is welcomed and kudos is appreciated.


End file.
